Haunted
by Elvenfox
Summary: Nalin's love was taken from her, but she cannot cope with Boromir's death or even acknowledge it in her mind. With the battle for mankind about to be waged around her, can she overcome the guilt, fear, and very protective elf who is determined to hide her from danger. Can she finally admit to herself that Boromir is gone, and move on? Sequel to Who You Are
1. Chapter 1

** First off, would be better if you read my first story, Who You Are, which has the same OC but takes place during the Fellowship of the Ring. Enjoy this one.**

**xXx**

I felt my throat close quickly and I dry gagged for what seemed to be the sixth time that day. I wasn't sure what had brought on this onslaught, perhaps it was the smell of the Urak-hai that I was currently tied to the back to, maybe it was the lack of food for the past three days. Perhaps it was from the good amount of blood I had lost in the process of being dragged away from protection. Or it could be the fact that I had the sense that other than the two hobbits being carried next to me, the rest of our comrades were most likely dead.

Our current group had not stopped running for days, and the few minutes my captor took to run smoother than usual I would shut my eyes and try to imagine I was back somewhere safe, like Rivendell. Sometimes if I was lucky my mind would shut down briefly and rest, and I could honestly see myself standing back on my balcony looking at the beauty around me. Of course when I would wake up I would realize it was a dream, yet I would still think about Rivendell and Elrond and mentally I would blame the elf king over and over again. Whenever Saruman was done with me and had me killed, I was going to haunt Elrond as long as he lived.

I guessed by the landscape around me that we were in Rohan, and I briefly wondered how my life would have been different if my family and our group had made it to Rohan instead of the death and destruction I had learned to expect.

I heard Pippin starting to call out for Merry, and I turned my head as much as I could without touching my nose to the Urak-hai carrying me, they really did make me just want to vomit. My eyes caught the hobbits, who were a little bit ahead of me. Merry was not responding to Pippin, he seemed to be completely out of it, the wound on his head surely not helping. I flinched as I glanced the wound again, remembering how he was trying to defend Pippin when he received that, which led to me attacking our captors and the leader I'm pretty sure had cracked a rib or two. My trouble breathing tipped me off to that one.

Our company suddenly slowed down and stopped, and I craned my head as the three of us were carried closer to the front of the pack. Our group had been joined by a smaller group, but any more enemies when I had left my sword and bow back at the battle site was not a good thing.

"You're late, our master grows impatient." The leader of the smaller group initiated the conversation, but I was too tired and worried about more damage to my body that I kept quiet and just watched the exchange break down.

"Merry!" Pippin was still trying to wake up his friend, but Merry's head remained lolled back, his mouth hanging open. For one moment I wished I could join him in whatever oblivion illness and or pain had taken him to, I would rather be unconscious than awake for our current predicament.

"My friend is sick! Please help!" Pippin started pleading with our captors, and I was startled to see that they actually turned to listen, but the unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach as I watched the look they were giving the small hobbit.

"He needs water!" Pippin continued as they circled around him.

"Sick is he?" I already heard laughter rumbling throughout the orcs, and so I tried to maneuver myself enough to keep in sight of the hobbits. "Let's give him some medicine boys!" With that the orc started to pour a reddish brown liquid down his throat. Merry took it alright at first but then woke up and started gagging harder and harder against the liquid.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!" Pippin started shouting again in Merry's defense, but the orcs just laughed at Merry's inability to take the "draught" and threatened Pippin with some if he wasn't quiet. I would like to look back and think that I had done the right thing, that I had fought for the little hobbits, provide them a little security or faith of good in the world, but instead I merely watched the events unfold, the knowledge that there was no hope weighing hard on me.

As the two orc groups went back to talking, Merry came to and looked between Pippin and myself.

"Merry are you alright?" Pippin asked.

"Hello Pip." Merry was clearly still not completely with us.

It warmed my heart slightly to see the two companions talking back and forth, and even with his large injury, Merry was still trying to keep Pippin calm and protect him. He spun a quick tale of how this was all an act and how he was fine, just a superb actor to have fooled Pippin as well. Once all was said Merry drifted off again, and I worried about if Merry would indeed make it to Isengard if there was not a break for sleep soon.

I turned my attention back to the front of the group where there was now loud growling sounds coming from our leaders and scouts. I found myself praying it was not more orcs coming to join our company, at least the ones that had attacked us I knew I could trust to do us no harm until we reached Isengard. I found myself almost wishing they would do us harm, save us for the fate that was in our futures.

Our leader focused in on one of our larger scouts. "What is it? What do you smell?"

I started counting off the things I would rather have to deal with than more orcs.

"Man-flesh." The scout responded. Well if I had been standing up you could have knocked me over with a light breeze at the moment. Were there possibly men around who could fight and save us from our fate.

"Aragorn!" Pippin nodded toward me, and I startled him with my own startled look. Could he possibly be right? I hadn't even considered this option, but the hope in Pippin's voice had me possibly feeling hope again.

I heard the leaders up front shout that someone had picked up our trail. My God, they were alive, Aragorn and Legolas and Gimli had survived, of course this would have been after, I'm sure, they had properly sent off-

No, I wasn't going to think of that, I wasn't going to deal with those last images of the man I had cared for so deeply.

Pippin reached with his teeth and pulled off the elven clasp from his cloak and spit it on the ground. I craned my head enough to watch it hit before being trampled into the grass by our followers as our company took off at a quick sprint again.

**xXx**

We had been running for days, and I was ready to pass out as soon as I found a surface that wasn't moving. The only good thing that had appeared out of the long trek was that Merry had miraculously gotten slightly better, and by that I meant he was managing to stay awake most of the time now.

I had just managed to nod off against my carrier captor, the smell no longer bothered me I was so used to it, when I was woken by being thrown onto the hard cold ground. My eyes shot open and I sat up, trying to take in my surroundings. Our captors seemed to be ignoring us for now, Merry and Pippin lay next to me discussing something about trees. I stood up, thinking to myself that if they wanted to kill me they would have done it already, and so I started maneuvering myself amongst the orcs. It seemed they had stopped to take a break, which I had to say I was thanking them for, but now I desperately needed to find food and water for the hobbits and myself. As I stumbled through the group, my hands still tied, I came upon the leader of the group that had been with us for the whole time, and I decided to try my chances with him.

"We need food and water." I stood beside him as he was sharpening his weapon, and I briefly thought about whether or not this was truly a good idea. He grunted at me but did not look my way. "This is not a silly request, we will die soon without food or water, and I don't mean maggot filled bread and whatever that draught was." He growled and stood up and I forgot how much he towered over me.

"You will take what we give you, or you will just die!"

He turned to walk away but I wasn't done with him yet.

"Saruman would not like it much if we appeared in his presence dead." The Uruk-hai turned back to face me, and got so close I could feel his breath against my cheeks. He held up a piece of said bread to my face.

"I'm starving," he said, crushing the bread in front of my face. "We ain't had nothing but maggoty bread for three stinking days."

"Well that's not my fault, now is it?" I breathed back at him.

Unfortunately his statement had caught the attention of the group around us and now everyone was complaining. The loudest voice was a nasally sounding orc who I had hated since the start. He spoke up about wanting meat, and while others agreed with him I saw his eyes trail until they landed on Merry and Pippin, and he commented on the hobbits freshness. The leader pushed me to the side and I landed with an oof on the ground. I pushed myself back a little bit, bound to get to the outside of the ring we had formed so I could get to Merry and Pippin quicker and hopefully without being seen too easily. Luckily while I was pushing myself back I saw the lead Uruk-hai coming to the hobbit's defense, and I knew what I said was true, we were not to be harmed or too badly treated, by orders of Saruman.

I wasn't sure how, but somehow during my maneuvering the circle had shifted, so I found myself back by Merry and Pippin, who were actually close to the outside of the circle. I must have missed some insane words because one minute I had slid up next to Merry and Pippin who looked terrified, to suddenly having an orc's head fall from the sky and fall between my legs and his body fell down by my feet.

I was at least pleased to see it was nasal voice orc.

The leader made a joke about how meat was back on the menu, and that's when all hell broke loose. The group attacked the orcs body, and I was about to roll away when I saw a loose sword lying on the ground. I risked my limbs and stuck my leg in, but I was rewarded when I felt the sword drag out with my foot. I grasped it in my hands and started rolling til I was on the outside again. Luckily the group had been too busy with the food to notice by quick escape.

I sat on the grass as I held the sword between my legs against the ground and ran the bindings against the blade until the ropes snapped. I sighed with relief as blood rushed back into my hands, but the feeling was short lived as I heard screaming coming from among the group. My head snapped up and I watched as several orcs were taken down by arrows and spears. Well forget this, I didn't waste any time getting away from the mayhem. I ran towards the edge of the forest and used every bit of strength I had to pull myself on a low branch of an old tree and pull myself up a couple more until I found one thick enough to hold be and high enough to survey.

Whoever was attacking us were definitely men, and they seemed to be winning this battle with ease. Where had the hobbits run off too though? There was a growing amount of smoke and I couldn't see everything, and I couldn't hear past the orc's cries or the men's shouting. Well this was problematic. I thought about climbing back down, but I was not putting myself in the middle of that bloodbath, so I merely clung to my branch and watched the fighting unfold.

The defeat of the orcs did not take that long, maybe twenty minutes. It was late at night, and the small fires scattered here and there that the men built were the only sources of light, so I still had no idea who these men were.

I must have nodded off at some point, because when I opened my eyes again there were two of them standing beneath me, clearly looking straight at me.

"It takes someone of great courage to sleep in a tree of Fangorn Forest." The taller one shouted up to me when he realized I was staring at them. Was that where I was currently, Fangorn Forest? I didn't realize we were this far east. I stared down the two men and backed up slowly on my branch. My eyes scanned my other surroundings, the orcs had been piled up in the distance, and their bodies were burning slowly. The rest of the men were around a large fire not from the pile, and seemed to be planning on staying there the rest of the night. I could see no sign of the hobbits at all, and I felt my stomach drop as I feared the worse. My eyes slid back to the two below me.

"Who are you? Where do you come from?" The taller one asked again. I slid my head until I was look through the split of the branch.

"I will not answer any of your questions until you answer some of mine."

The man's eyebrows and I was immediately reminded of Aragorn. "You seem very sure of yourself, for someone who was most likely in the company of orcs."

"Not by my own accord sir, I was captive. Now, where does your company hail from?"

"Eomer, she could be a spy of Saruman." Eomer's companion said quietly into his ear, but I picked it up easily. So my interrogator's name was Eomer, always a good piece of information to have, just in case.

"I'm not telling you anything else, until it is just you and me, Eomer." I used his name just to rattle him a little bit. "Your friend clearly does not trust me, and just to let you know, I'm tired of people not trusting me."

Eomer's friend looked put out, and Eomer looked slightly startled, but I watched as he judged my current predicament and deemed that I was currently not a threat. His friend, who was still not happy, was ushered away.

"We are men of Rohan, and have recently been trying to keep the dark forces from encroaching on our land."

"By dark forces, you of course mean Saruman's forces." I shot him a smirk.

He returned it after a moment. "It seems you know a lot about our lands, our foes, and who I am, yet I still do not even know your name."

Even though I was not receiving any feelings of danger from Eomer, I was not trusting him enough to give him my actual name. "I am…Arwen." I wished we had met more females in the past months, it felt wrong using Aragorn's loves name, but I was sticking with it. "I set out from Rivendell, under the orders of Lord Elrond. I was recently intercepted by that group you just took care of awhile ago and I have been at their mercy ever since." I would not mention the hobbits, that quest and their players were to be withheld as long as possible.

"It seems you have been busy these past couple months then." I started to laugh but flinched as I lost my breath, I had forgotten my hurt ribs, plus whatever other damage I had taken from the couple beatings. Eomer saw the flinch and frowned deeply. "You're hurt."

Stupid statement questions, always making me stop to think on how to respond. "My captors were not always the friendliest with me."

"Come down, let me help you." I raised an eyebrow at him as he held his hands up to me, like I was a child stuck in the tree. "Arwen, I am not going to hurt you, please let me help you. As a man of Rohan I cannot let myself carry on with any dignity if I do not mend you to the best of my ability."

I flinched at the use of my alias, but he took it as flinching more in pain. Eomer sighed at started to move to climb the tree, he clearly not seeing the flaw that the branch would not hold both of us, so I wove my hands quickly in front of me.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming down. Calm yourself." I swung my leg over the branch and hung down, guessing it was about ten feet from the bottom of my feet to the ground. I could hear Eomer shouting at me but I merely rolled my eyes before dropping down. The wind whooshed by my ears and I braced myself for the impact but instead of hitting the ground I found myself colliding against the arms of Eomer.

"For someone who is wounded you certainly do the silliest things." He scolded me and started carrying me towards his tent. "Now tell me silly girl from Rivendell, where are you hurt."

"It's silly woman thank you very much. And it's mainly my upper body, they kicked my ribs and stomach quite hard a couple times." He placed me down near his own fire and knelt before me.

"I'm going to have to remove your shirt, stay here a moment." And he left me with that knowledge as he quickly wondered off. I sighed, but slowly started to remove my shirt, and grabbed a blanket to wrap around myself. The other men of Eomer's company were far enough away that they would not hear what was said between Eomer and myself, but I could see their glances coming my way here and there. Eomer came back with some bandages and hot water, and took in my state of undress.

"Come on into my tent, we'll tend to your wounds in private." He held the tent flap open and I slid in. I kept my back to Eomer as he slid in behind me and slowly pulled the blanket off. I crossed my arms over my chest. The splashing of water was heard and I felt a warm clothe press against my back, and the water slowly slid down my back. I buried my head in my pulled up knees and sighed quietly.

"I'm not used to a woman in such dress."

"I'm sorry I can't be one of those woman who wander the wilderness in a long dress."

I almost could feel Eomer smirk again, but he just kept tending to my back and as far up the ribs as he dared to go. We sat there in silence from then on, until he had finished washing the dirt, and I saw some blood, off of me, before taking my help and the two of us wrapped the bandages around my midsection. When it was finished I turned around, having used some of the bandages to cover myself up. Eomer reached behind him and pulled over a small tunic and helped me put it on.

"You remind me of my friends." I finally said when all was said and done.

"How so?"

"Just random traits, your personality reminds me of two of them combined, and another one had blonde hair like yourself."

"I suppose I should take that as a high compliment as I can receive from the mysterious Arwen."

"This is true, now if you'll excuse me, I am going to sleep."

"You're perfectly welcome to use my tent-" Eomer started the offer but I held my hand up. It had been too long since I could enjoy the stars in peace, and tonight I was going to do so. So I grabbed a quilt from Eomer's tent and wandered out to right beside his tent. I laid down and pulled the quilt over me while staring up at the night sky, judging by the position of the moon I had about three hours before the sun rose.

My last thought was the fact that I did not see any hobbit's laying in the burning pile, and so I had to hope that they had escaped death once again.

**xXx**

It had been awhile since I had been on a horse, so after we had packed up the campsite and had made sure the pile of bodies were still burning, I pulled the horse given to me to the side and spent about five minutes trying to climb on top of him.

"Glad to see someone trusted with a mission from Rivendell is so agile when it comes simply mounting a horse." The mock came from Eomer as he rode up beside me looking very gallant. "Did you sleep well outside under the stars?"

"About as well as to be expected." I stared into Fangorn Forest, praying for Merry and Pippin, praying that they had survived the attack, but I had still seen no signs of a possible escape.

"Was there anyone else found, besides the orcs? Any other survivors?" I turned to Eomer, and saw his questioning look.

"There were no other survivors. We would have probably killed you as well if you had been in the middle of the fray. It was only because we didn't see you until the battle was over that saved your life."

"Oh…" it was all I managed to say. If they had honestly killed anything that moved then what possible chance had Merry and Pippin had in escaping. I shouldn't have left them alone, I shouldn't have rolled away to remove my bindings, or ran away when the battle broke out.

My silence was making Eomer uncomfortable and so he rode up next to me and nudged my boot with his.

"We should get going. My men and I want to scout a little further west, but then we will ride as close to Edoras as we dare, then you can continue the rest of the way. If I can spare a man or two who are still in good standing there I will let them escort you. When you reach Edoras you should find my sister, Eowyn. Trust her and no one else there." The sternness in his voice frightened me slightly, but as I opened my mouth to question just about everything about that statement he held up his spear and ordered his men to move out. I sighed to myself and shook my head, but spurred my horse on and began running with the pack.

We had been scouting for about a half hour, but there were no remaining orcs or dangers of Saruman seen within the area. We were about to start a run west when I heard shouting behind us, though over the thundering hooves of the many horses I could make nothing out, and I dared not to turn around for fear of falling of my already shaky mount. Eomer rose his spear, and though I was slower than the rest I turned in time with them to circle around on the targets. My eyes flashed up the hill and my stomach dropped.

It was hard to see with the sun's glare, but there were definitely a man, an elf, and a dwarf standing up on the hill. That sort of combination was not seen in Middle Earth.

They had found me, the three of them. They had been chasing us this whole time, and now, as we rode up and surrounded them, I could see the lack of sleep combined with their desperation etched onto their faces. This had been the only thing on their mind since we had been taken.

I suddenly found myself ashamed of my actions these past couple weeks, though I didn't know why, but I suddenly was angry at myself for leaving Boromir, for not being smart enough like Pippin to leave a trail, not having hope like Pippin that our companions were indeed alive and coming after us., and for not protecting the hobbits, and not knowing their status of either living or dead. I ducked my head down in shame as we finished circling the three. I wasn't sure if I could face them at this time.

"What business does a elf, a man, and a dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!" Eomer had ridden to the middle of the pack and was now demanding answers. Good luck sir on getting any answers from these three.

"Give me your name, horsemaster, and I shall give you mine." I couldn't help it, I smirked at Gimli's response, unable to hold back the laugh at the similarities of his and mine first response to Eomer was hilariously similar. Eomer jumped down from his horse and walked over to the three, Aragorn was already pushing back Gimli.

"I would cut off your head, _dwarf,_ if it stood but a little higher from the ground."

Well I could have told him that comment would get him in trouble with our group, but I didn't figure it would be Legolas whipping out his weapon and pointing it at Eomer.

"You would die before your stroke fell!" Wait a minute, since when have Legolas and Gimli become friends? All the Rohan men pointed their weapons at Legolas's head and Aragorn pushed the elf's bow down while Gimli looked slightly alarmed.

"I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn, this is Gimli, son of Gloin, and Legolas from the Woodland Realm." Legolas looked like he was ready to kill Eomer while Aragorn introduced them. "We are friends of Rohan, and of Theoden, your King."

I watched Eomer's shoulder's slump slightly before he continued. "Theoden no longer recognizes friend from foe." I watched as he removed his helmet, which I secretly wanted to steal. "Not even his own kin." Well knock me over with a feather, how many royal descendants in hiding was I going to meet on this trip.

"Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king and has claimed lordship over this land. My company are those loyal to Rohan, and for that we are banished." Well that answered the questions I had been planning to ask him about the 'trust no one in Edoras' speech. The horse lord kept walking around the remainder of the Fellowship. "The White Wizard is cunning. He walks here and there they say, as an old man, hooded and cloaked." The look he gave Legolas showed that out of the three, he trusted Legolas the least. Or maybe he was just jealous because Legolas was working the blonde hair in a prettier fashion than he was.

I giggled into the back of my hand at that last thought, gaining me a look from the men in my immediate area. Legolas's and Aragorn's heads tilted slightly and their eyes scanned the crowd. I ducked my head down and hid behind a wider warrior.

"We are no spies. We track a band of Uruk-hai westward across the plains. They have taken three of our friends captive."

I mentally willed Eomer not to look back at me, but I saw his eyes briefly flash in my direction.

"The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them during the night." He kept his head turned my way and I was mentally trying to slap him.

"But there were two hobbits, did you see two hobbits with them?" Gimli jumped in front of Aragorn.

"There was a girl too," Legolas broke in. "A human girl."

Eomer's eyes met mine, but I was trying to think of the best way to let them know I was sitting on a horse right there.

"We left none alive." Dammit Eomer why would you go and say that. I gave him a look that clearly stated you should go find a hole to die in right now. My three friends looked crushed, and I wanted to kill Eomer even more. "We piled the carcasses and burned them." We all looked out into the distance where we knew the bodies were burning.

I sighed and jumped off my horse before pulling it to the side, as I dodged the Rohan soldier as he pulled two horses towards the center. I knew I was going to have to admit I was alive sooner or later, it would be best to do it sooner. I heard Eomer shout for his riders, and the Rohan riders took off to the north. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli watched them ride off.

"We are going to have to face this eventually. We might have to face our worst fears, but we have to know what has happened to our companions for sure." Aragorn said, and all I could think was 'Turn around you idiots.'

I whistled quietly for a second and waited.

The three of them turned around and their eyes met mine.

**xXx**

**Well there's the first part to second story. Reviews always appreciated and extra motivating. Let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

There was so much awkwardness in that minute that I was for one moment sure that I would wake up to realize it was just one of those dreams that make you feel highly uncomfortable when you wake up.

I stood on the higher part of the hill, my horse nickering as if sensed the awkward reunion, and I stared at my three friends who were all staring at me as if I had been raised from the dead. A million thoughts were running through my head right now. They were probably going to be angry that I was standing here alone, with no hobbits at my heels. I expected that. I also expected possible yelling at me for getting kidnapped in the first place.

What I did not expect was that of the three of them, it would be the gruff dwarf to run and launch himself in the air at me.

'No, no, no, no, no,' I couldn't say anything out loud, I was touched as he wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug, but he landed on top of me, and my ribs hadn't healed enough to comfortably stand the weight of Gimli and his armor. I coughed as the ground collided with my back.

"Lassie! You're alive, you're alright!" I was pretty sure if he was such a touch little guy he would have burst out in tears at that moment.

"Yes, yes, Gimli, though to be p-perfectly alright I n-need a-air!" I coughed out a full sentence, I proud moment, and rolled the dwarf to the side. He sat up, cheeks red with embarrassment, but his smile beaming beneath his beard. I returned the smile and hugged him, now that I could breathe. When we parted I looked up to see the sun blocked out by the ever tall dark and handsome Aragorn, who offered me his hand. I took it with a smile and he pulled me back, his silly smile growing, before pulling me into a hug as well. For the first time in awhile, safe feelings enveloped me, after all any one who messed with Aragorn usually didn't turn out that well.

"We were sure they had killed you." Aragorn pulled back and looked me in the eye. I shrugged and thought about it myself. Honestly, I had some close calls with the orc company, I would have probably thought that my mouth would have gotten me killed as well.

"It's all in the past. I am alright." I gave the long lost king a smile, sad I suppose compared to the usual ones I shot him, but in my defense the look he was giving me reminded me of the lost Steward, who I had noticed was not in their company.

"That should be considered a miracle, since this is you we are talking about." Aragorn's smile turned to a smirk and I punched him lightly on the arm. My fingers ached at the slight contact. Healing was going to take longer than I supposed.

I glanced over Aragorn's shoulder, and locked eyes with the last member of my previous company. It may sound silly, but I really took in the elf prince's beauty at this moment. Everything was still running in the back of my mind, but after how long with filthy, disgusting orcs, seeing his face took its own minute to be admired. Aragorn saw my look and patted me on the shoulder, before stepping to the side.

Legolas hadn't moved from the newly obtained horses, but as Aragorn moved and I was in clear view he walked over so quickly I was sure he was going to knock me over as well. His eyes were showing such a strange look, and as he came closer to me and didn't slow down, I wondered if he was going to kiss me, right here and now. I couldn't handle that right now, and some small part of me stopped talking to the rest of my mind, but not this soon after Boromir's death. I knew he was dead, he wasn't here, and was last seen pierced with three arrows. I mentally admitted this but couldn't say it out loud and make it real, not yet, and since I wasn't making it real yet then kissing Legolas would be me being unfaithful to Boromir.

Luckily, Legolas stopped right in front of me, his stare making me uncomfortable enough to shift my feet from side to side.

"Hello again, your highness." I dared to shoot him a look and quirked a half smile in his general direction. His stare did not falter, causing my smile to.

"I was so certain…." His mouth hung open mid sentence, his hand finding my face. I wouldn't kiss him, but his warm palm felt nice, and I grabbed onto his wrist and held it there. "I was so certain they would have killed you, that I would never see you again. Did they…" he faltered again. "Did they touch you?"

Strange as it may have seemed, that thought never really crossed my mind, I had been so preoccupied with the hobbits and the presumed deaths of everyone else. I should have probably put that into my priorities.

"No," I shook my head against his hand. "I mean, I got beat up quite a bit, but they didn't touch me in that way." At this statement his eyes softened considerably, making me believe he would have re-killed the orcs if they had. He pulled me into him, and his long arms ran up and down my back. As far as I was concerned we could have stood like that for an hour until I heard what I was told was a grumble, but I insisted that it was an awkward chuckle from the other two.

"Nalin, where are the hobbits?" Aragorn passed by me to grab the men's horses. I looked back down toward the ground and was silent until he turned around and noticed me. "Nalin?"

"When the battle with the horse lords began, I was away from the hobbits. I had been trying to find us decent food and clean water, and when the attack began I am ashamed to say I climbed a tree to get out of the danger, and didn't think of the hobbits until I was on the branch. By then I couldn't find them at all."

Once again my expectations were not reached, while I was waiting for the scolding for letting them out of my sight, but instead the other two came up to Legolas and me (still holding one another) and Aragorn placed his hand on my shoulder.

"We know you did what you could. The fact that you kept them alive was a large enough burden." He looked solemn but I believed the ranger's words. Gimli grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Aye, they were alive when you last saw them. That gives us enough hope for the time being." I could have hugged the dwarf again, had Legolas let go of me at any point. I was silently wondering if he was ever going to let me go, and I felt a twinge of annoyance with the overly protective elf.

"We should go now, find out whether they survived the onslaught or not." I pushed Legolas away, which he wasn't looking to thrilled about, and I jumped onto my horse, hiding the flinching that accompanied that action with the battered body I had.

"You should rest Nalin. We can go che-" I pushed my boot against Legolas's mouth. He was not going to start this I hoped.

"Get on your horses and let's go. We've wasted enough time as it is." I jerked my horse's reins and started to trot down the hill, towards the smoke in the distance. I ignored the shouts of the three I left behind me, but I giggled at my own personal thought of them clamoring onto horses to catch up with me.

"You cannot do those actions anymore Nalin." Boy did Aragorn sound exasperated with me already; I must have real talent in that area. I swished my hair over my shoulder towards him but chose to ignore the comment. Well, at least I had planned to.

"I'm sorry Aragorn, would you like me to stay at home and cook and clean? Raise the children, maybe sew clothes that are torn? Take care of the men who are in battle while I manage the safe homes with women and children who couldn't fight to save their own lives?" Aragorn and Gimli had the decency to not look at me, but as I made eye contact with Legolas I could not deny he looked like he was seriously agreeing with my sarcastic thoughts. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!"

"The battle field is clearly no place for a woman." I wasn't deaf, and Legolas wasn't subtle with his comments.

"And clearly it's perfectly safe for men, as seen by the fact that Bor-" nope, nope, not going to say it out loud, still not real outside. I covered quickly. "As seen by the fact that borrowed horses we now are riding. And those guys had a surprise ambush on their sides."

Aragorn gave me a sad look, it was obvious to him that I noticed the loss in our group, but thankfully he didn't say anything. I nudged my horse on faster, glad to have them as company but already pissed at two of them.

It surprised me that Gimli was still on my good side. Who'd have thought?

We rode the rest of the way in silence, with me riding ahead enough to not be tempted to continue yelling at the males, who I'm sure had pictured our reunion going a very different way. I felt a twinge of regret for my actions by not enough to apologize. They could not start treating me like a fragile statuette, and if they tried there was going to be hell to pay.

It was odd, seeing the pile of orcs burning in the sunrise. One of my carriers of the group had been the lucky choice to have his head positioned just so on a pike, and as I dismounted my horse, I gave into the urge to kick the pike hard, causing the head to wobble back and forth in a comical way.

My company dismounted quickly and immediately began rummaging around the pile, or in Gimli's case just jump right onto the pile and starts kicking body parts to the side. In my case I looked for signs of the hobbits, but in all the calamity last night I was unaware of their last position when I saw them.

I heard Gimli's grumbling grow louder and I turned to see the suddenly downcast dwarf holding up a woven belt of Lothlorien. My stomach dropped.

"One of their belts." He said solemnly, and removed himself from the pile of orc. Legolas began quietly speaking what I could only assume was a prayer. I sat on the grass, and fell back to stare at the sun, the fact that all signs pointed to Merry and Pippin being dead was enhanced by the guttural scream that Aragorn let out. If Mr. Composed felt that strongly than how could it not be true?

"I just saw them…" I muttered mostly to myself but I'm sure the others heard me. My eyes travelled to the tree I had climbed last night, and once I had spotted the branch that had been my hiding spot I took the time to figure out where exactly the hobbits had been when last I saw. Lifting my hand, because I had lost all strength to move beyond that, I pointed right next to Aragorn. "They were right there Aragorn, you could pretty much be sitting on them."

Aragorn lifted his eyes to look at me then followed my finger to the area next to him in the grass. I watched his hand move from side to side across the warm vegetation.

"A hobbit lay here…" He paused and looked around before settling on another spot. "And another here."

The next moment Aragorn shifted completely into ranger mode, noticing things that even Legolas could not see. He stood, mumbling quietly to himself and walking around the area, but Legolas and Gimli looked interested enough that I lifted my head from the grass and rolled up onto the balls of my feet.

"Their hands were bound…" The three had moved away from me quickly, so I took off after them, joining the elf's and dwarf's look of fascination as we all watched Aragorn show his skill. "Their binds were cut!" Aragorn pulled a piece of rope off of the ground, clearly cut in two by a blade. My heart skipped a beat as we took off practically sprinting now, jumping here and there, from spot to spot, with Aragorn shouting "There!" or "This way!" now and again. As we moved away from the scene of the battle the ranger slowed, as did we.

"They ran away from the battle…" Aragorn's neck craned back. "And into Fangorn Forest."

"Fangorn…what madness drove them there?" I completely agreed with Gimli on that one, only Merry and Pippin would go running deep into the ancient looking forest. I felt uncomfortable climbing a tree on the outer edge.

The four of us spent the next hour packing what was needed onto the horses. I myself grabbed a sword from the horrendous smelling pile, of course noticing Legolas's disapproving look. When he made eye contact with me I smiled and waved the sword as a taunt. Gimli and I thought this action was hilarious.

As we began to trudge through the thick trees, myself being stuck leading two of the horses, I noticed the slight change in dynamic that my three companions seemed to have developed. Aragorn, while in full ranger mode, had gained even more presence than before, his true Gondorian Kingly self appearing in frequent glimpses, often by his leadership. Legolas, by some miracle, had apparently grown a sense of humor, however slight, and cracked me up a couple times with his comments, even though I was still highly annoyed with him.

The biggest shift was between Legolas and Gimli, who apparently were best friends now. Don't ask me to explain what had happened, because I myself still find it hard to believe.

Fangorn was dark, quiet, and deep. It had us all on high alert, the sense of unseen danger was as daunting to us that moment as if we were facing an army of enemies in plain view. I had trouble, here and there, controlling the horses, and after a long while, Aragorn finally found a place to let me tie them up and come back for them.

"We are not far I feel now." The ranger patted the horses on their necks as he looked at me shrugging on my weapon. "You could stay here with the horses, put the minds of some of the more worried members of our fellowship." The look I shot Aragorn must have been a good one, because his eyes widened and he focused back on the horses. "It is just a suggestion."

"Stop treating me like I am a helpless girl." He opened his mouth, probably to point out that I HAD been captured, but decided against it. "Good choice you just made. I am quite willing and able to fight, and I will not let Merry and Pippin be lost forever because you three think I will trip and fall and land on an enemies sword."

"Merry and Pippin being in here is not your fault."

"I am aware of that, but they are small hobbits who should be farming and eating and drinking. They should not be lost in this godforsaken place, scared, alone, and in danger."

"I suppose," Aragorn glanced over his shoulder, where I knew the other two were a ways off. "He was extremely distressed you know, I mean we all were but he was probably the worst."

I snorted, such an attractive quality. "How can you tell behind his continuously composed mask?"

"Well for one, he didn't want to stop at all, he was desperate to catch up with the group. After we had sent off…" Aragorn looked at me and thankfully didn't complete his thought. "We found your sword impaled into an orc, and knew what had happened."

"Yes, and thank you for bringing that with you for when you found me."

"We had to travel light." Aragorn smiled and we started to walk back to the group. "All I'm saying is maybe don't start bickering with him as soon as we find you. The poor elf won't know how to handle it."

"When he stops treating me like I can break at any second then I will stop getting defensive." We entered a clearing and my eye's met Legolas's, it completely clear that he had heard my last statement. I shrugged it off and followed Gimli, who had been on the trail the whole time. Currently he was looking at some leaves curiously before touching his glove to the leaf and placing it in his mouth, promptly spitting it out.

"Orc blood!" He continued to spit, while I made a face at him.

"Why would you put anything in your mouth that even resembled blood?" He ignored my disgust as we followed Legolas and Aragorn deeper into the forest. At least that was my plan, had I not decided at that moment to trip and fall into a large indent of the earth. "I need everyone to pretend they did not see that!" I rose my hand before my head, trying to keep the blushing at bay.

"These are strange tracks…" Aragorn knelt at the edge of the track, his eyes scanning briefly before following them into the forest. "Also Nalin you may not want to look to your left at the moment." Well of course now I had to, my eyes jumping beside me, to the remains of what looked like a very squished orc. I turned my head back toward Aragorn, fighting the urge to throw up this instant.

"I knew him." I took a deep breath. "At least I'm pretty sure it's him. He was one of the orcs that was trying to vouch why they could eat parts of Merry and Pippin. He must have followed them." At least him being there accounted for the orc blood Gimli was now digesting. Aragorn pulled me to my feet while the dwarf grumbled about how close the air was.

"This forest is old.." my eyes shot to Legolas, who was clearly speaking to himself while his eyes held a faraway look. "Very old, full of memory…and anger." Oh great angry trees. Could I just go back and hang out with Eomer and his group, I felt safer.

As if on cue there was a loud grumble throughout the forest, one I felt from the ground into my knees. The trees were talking, as Legolas pointed out and frankly terrified me, and I looked over my shoulder to cast blame as Aragorn told Gimli to lower his axe.

"That was probably common sense there Gimli. No axe means happy trees." I resisted all urges to roll my eyes. Legolas continued on his elven knowledge.

"They have feelings my friend, the elves began it, waking up the trees, teaching them how to speak." I shot Gimli an 'I'm sorry I blamed you when we now know this is his fault' look.

He responded with a remark about squirrel droppings that made me chuckle.

"Aragorn!" Legolas apparently hadn't heard the humor around him as he spoke quick elvish before taking off at a sprint, with Aragorn in tow.

"Can we please use a language we all understand?" Gimli and I rejoined them just as Aragorn spoke in elvish as well. "Honestly!?" This was just frustrating.

Of course that was until Legolas spoke the words, "The White Wizard approaches."

If the talking, feeling, angry memory ridden trees hadn't scared me out of this forest, then this fact certainly would. My hand went instinctively to my sword, and my eyes went into full alert mode, as well as my ears.

"Do not let him speak, he will put a spell on us."

Really Aragorn? Who'd have thought?

"We must be quick." His words started the countdown in my head, I knew the others sensed what I was, the feeling of magic right behind us. We attack in 3…2….1…..

Simultaneously (which I must admit was pretty impressive looking) the four of us turned and faced the White Wizard. I should have known there was no way to win this battle, Legolas's arrow and Gimli's throwing axe were blown to smithereens, while mine and Aragorn's hands burned against the handles of our swords. In another three seconds our weapons were useless to us. I briefly wondered if it was too late to turn tail and run.

Instead I opted to grab Legolas's arm and hide behind him. I know some people would judge me for this move, but I was not stupid, if Saruman was going to try and reclaim me Legolas was going to put up the biggest fight to keep me safe.

"You are searching for two young hobbits?" That stupid light glowing from him annoyed me.

"Who are you?" You go Aragorn, show him who's the King. "Show yourself!" The light began to dim as we stopped using our hands to shield our eyes. I felt around with my foot to see where my sword was, and as my toe came into contact with the hilt I bent down to pick it up slowly. My eyes shot back up to the now all but finished light….

And out from it stepped Gandalf.

**xXx**

** I'm going to end it there, I was going to go a little further but I just can't find a better place to end it than here. As always reviews are always welcome, and much appreciated, and continuously motivating. Also feel free to go check out my new Hobbit fic, which I will be working to update next. Until then faithful readers thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

It was another strange moment, one of the many that I had been having lately and it most likely would not be my last one. We stood there, in blaringly white light cast from our comrade who I thought had been lost to us.

Apparently the only thing that we had lost was Gandalf's baggy grey outfit.

"Apparently no one can stay dead from the fellowship." I blurted out, unable to think of anything really to say right now. Of course once I said it I realized it wasn't true, after all the guy I would have followed anywhere went the one place I couldn't follow. I kept this thought to myself, seeing as the rest of the group was giving me a crazy look for my blurted out comment. Of course Gandalf reappears before us and I have to go and initiate conversation with a stupid comment. Luckily the staring lasted only a couple seconds.

"It cannot be." Aragorn's bluntness was a much more acceptable way to get us all talking. Very sensible, very straightforward, it made it very clear why he was royalty and I was not.

Legolas and Gimli fell to their knees, their awe marking their faces which were hung low in honor. Now we were bowing to the wizard, to me it seemed a tad bit excessive. Yes I was glad he was standing before us, but the man had been missing for quite awhile, and I didn't believe that he had only just recently been resurrected. Why couldn't he find us awhile ago?

"Forgive me, I mistook you for Saruman."

It was official, I was worst speaker in our group, and I was even throwing Gimli into consideration. Aragorn was questioning, Legolas was apologizing, I was cracking jokes and making everyone wonder at my sanity. I might as well go back in the ditch with the crushed orc and wait to die.

"I am Saruman. Or rather Saruman as he should have been."

Thank you Mr. Vague.

"You fell," Aragorn had yet to close his mouth I was pretty sure. And that statement triggered Gandalf doing what he did best, he began to tell a story, of the white wizard versus the Balrog of Morgoth. He spoke of destroying the monster that had frightened us all so on the mountainside before he too fell and wandered into darkness. The way he worded it, I honestly began to see that Gandalf might have died, especially as he talked about lights fading in and out and then entering his body again.

"Gandalf!"

The wizard's face grew thoughtful for a second, as if he was trying to remember something from long ago. I stepped closer to a tree next to me, and I leaned against it, my arms crossed against my chest.

"Gandalf? Oh yes. That's what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. That was my name." I bit my lip wanting to hold back the sarcastic comment on my tongue.

"Gandalf!" Finally the dwarf spoke.

The wizard continued. "I am Gandalf the White." I couldn't hold it back any longer, the comment overrode my brain and escaped rather loudly.

"Well no shit."

**xXx**

I wasn't allowed to talk.

…..

It had been a group decision.

In their defense it had not been even remotely lady like, what I had said and so I understood the slight shock value. But in my defense I was growing tired of obvious comments and they never seemed to end. Plus I had been feeling overly agitated since Gandalf had reappeared, and I was trying to figure out why exactly.

Currently I was leading the horses, all three of them. At least they wouldn't judge me for what I said. I kept muttering annoyances to them while I followed the men.

"Nalin, not talking was not a mere suggestion." Gandalf turned around and shot me a look, I was not happy with him right now, the whole feel of the group had changed. Where I had used to be quirky and amusing I was now childish and a problem. I was starting to wonder if I was missing the overprotective friends.

It was then that my elf prince fell back from the group a little bit, as the others talked about problems in Edoras and their king.

" I wouldn't stand too close, I am apparently a very bad influence." There was no hiding the sarcasm, and frankly, I didn't want to hide it.

"You're angry with me." Legolas had stopped a bit of a ways from me, uncertainty in his eyes. I sighed and walked up to him, my hand resting on his shoulder.

"No, I am not mad at you Legolas. At least about this. Give me a couple minutes though and I am sure I can think of something that I want to smack you for." I squeezed my palm, and his hand rested on top of mine. A groaning began throughout the forest again and I looked at the elf. "The trees again?" He nodded.

I listened as Gandalf went on with the his speech about the trees and ents waking up, of the learning that they are strong. My eyes shifted around me, trying to imagine the trees walking around, speaking to one another. It was a discerning thought.

"Strong, oh that's good." Gimli was having the same thoughts I was, but he was allowed to voice them. Legolas smiled the dwarves way. I rolled my eyes, apparently now with sharing those looks with myself and Aragorn, Legolas had now included the dwarf. Gandalf shouted back to Gimli about Merry and Pippin's safety and the lack of ours currently.

I guess that was reassuring. I think…..

Maybe not.

"This new Gandalf's more grumpy than the old one." I laughed loudly, Aragorn smirked at me and Gandalf shot me a look. Gimli beamed at me though, he and I both knowing his words held truth in its bluntness. We kept walking through the forest, my feet in time with Legolas's, just to keep myself challenged. He of course noticed and would shuffle or leap from time to time to annoy me. The sarcastic side of him was coming back, which I was glad, but I was not blind to the fact that every time we would hear a noise that could be danger he would put himself in front of me.

When the sun was about to set completely, Gandalf told us to stop for the night and set up a campsite. I put it upon myself to build a stone base to build a fire. It seemed that if we needed a fire we wouldn't want to have the slightest possibility that it could catch the forest on fire, so after I had set up the base I found a small stream and used my flask to collect enough water.

Aragorn had shot another dear, smaller than ones we were used to but large enough to keep us full until tomorrow. The man was sort of amazing, and I could see how Arwen would have fallen in love with him.

"Is she waiting for you?" They were the first words I had spoken in a couple hours and they confused him right away. "Arwen, the elf maiden. Elrond's daughter, you know the one I could cut off my right arm to look like." At this he smiled kindly at me.

"You know I believe we have already had this conversation."

"Yes, yes, personality and all that. You still haven't answered my question."

The ranger looked out into the distance. "She is going with the rest of her kind, to the Grey Havens."

"Oh…" I congratulated myself on intelligent responses, while the teensy part of me that was still a little girl and dreamed of being a princess screamed he was available. The rest of me, with all my logic and experience, told me that I didn't have the best track record with men. Especially human men. Then there was the elven male tailing my every move. Half the time I seemed to be mad at him, so I wasn't considering that the best either.

Little princess me was not thrilled.

"I thought she might have been waiting to become queen of Gondor." I thought aloud, my mind racing. "If you two had married would you have been King of both Gondor and Rivendell?"

"Not as long as Elrond was here." I bit my lip, seeing that my words had brought discomfort to Aragorn.

"I'm sorry…"

"For what Nalin?"

"For making you sad." Hooray for bluntness again. "I don't know if you have noticed Aragorn, but I tend to speak before I think."

"You? Never…" he smiled that toothy grin at me and I laughed.

"Aragorn, why are you helping Nalin break the rules we put on her?" Gandalf's voice was stern but his eyes held some of the old laughter. Good to see that some of Gandalf the Grey remained in the new and improved wizard. I laughed along with the rest of the group even, Legolas was smirking, and pulled apart my part of the deer.

That night, we decided who would take watch when. Of course there was arguments on whether or not I was up for watch, but thankfully my arguments were heard. With some stipulations…

"Are you still hungry at all?" Legolas perched himself next to me. I sighed but smiled, happy yet annoyed. This elf was hard to stay mad at.

"No thank you Legolas." He kept looking into the distance, and for a second I swore I heard Aragorn and Gimli chuckling behind us. I felt the prince's long fingers close in around my hand. I closed my fingers as well but couldn't look him in the eye.

"I can't do this Legolas, not now. I need to….." Oh word choice, not my forte, my tongue was frozen at the back of my teeth. "I need time."

"Of course you do, I just wanted to make sure you knew that nothing had changed."

"So I should be keeping an eye out that you're just going to grab me and kiss me hard like you did in Lothlorien?"

There was no mistaking that Gimli was trying to cover up the sound he just made as a snore. Legolas apparently had noticed that everyone else was awake, so he told me to go to bed, that he had watch. As I stood to walk over to the campsite he lifted my hand and pressed his lips to the back of it. I walked back to my spot rubbing my fingers against my tingling skin.

In all honesty, I should have been thrilled. I was one of the characters from the love stories I had heard growing up. I had a prince here for me, and a gorgeous one, there was no denying. Why couldn't I be happy, fall for the prince, defeat the evil and live happily ever after?

Well let's face it, my last happily ever after had ended with the strong, handsome, kind man falling to the evil, being killed in a horrible battle, and had left me being kidnapped and beaten by the enemy. The story romance that should have happened, that had begun years ago when I had first seen him, was dashed and destroyed. I couldn't start a new one. I couldn't risk caring for Legolas, I had fallen apart when I saw Boro- him fall. I had lost Merry and Pippin in the fray. I couldn't risk everyone else's lives while I thought about Legolas.

The thoughts of Legolas as a character in a story let me drift to sleep.

**xXx**

We had made it to the edge of the forest, the bright sun blinding me briefly as I walked out from the shade of the trees.

"My Lord!" I shielded my eyes with my arm. Gimli laughed heartily beside me and I shot a look in his general direction. At least I hoped, I was still just seeing bright spots. Gandalf was whistling rather loudly, but it at least let me know he was standing close to me. When my eyes had finally adjusted the first thing I saw was the most beautiful horse I had ever seen, with a coat as white as mountaintop snow.

"That is one of the Meares, unless my eyes are cheated by some spell."

We all watched as the horse trotted up, coming to a halt right in front of Gandalf.

"Shadowfax. He's the Lord of all horses, and has been my friend through many dangers." Of course, new and improved Gandalf would have the lord of horses at his call. The lord of horses with an awesome name like Shadowfax.

I looked at my bay horse, I had been thinking of calling him Lembas because his color reminded me of the elven bread. I was going to need to change my thought process.

We mounted and began to ride, breaking only for the horses sakes. We were going towards Edoras, with the poisoned king and all the greatest and most loyal warriors being banished by Saruman's words. What a mess…

"What about Haldir?" I was between Aragorn and Gimli, and had been tossing horse names out for my bay. Seeing as I was now naming males we knew, it clearly was not going that well. Aragorn and Gimli both rolled their eyes. "Come on now, I don't hear either of you coming up with great ideas."

"Why not go with Elrond if we're naming male elves?" Aragorn sighed.

"Because I don't want to go around saying that I'm going to ride Elrond." I failed to hide back a giggle as I pictured me saying that.

"And Haldir was better how?"

"Well…"

"He's got a point lassie, if you were going down that road you might as well call him Legolas, we all know that's much more likely." Gimli bellowed as I froze, unable to comprehend the words without punching the dwarf. I looked over to Legolas who had been talking to Gandalf. He wasn't looking towards our trio but his whole posture was so rigid that I knew he had heard it, and was having issues processing it as much as I was. Aragorn noticed both of us.

"My dear friend you seem to have embarrassed our company." He was trying to be tough with Gimli, but there was no hiding that he was about to burst at the seams from laughing.

"I hate all of you." It was all I could mutter as I mounted my horse and kicked him into action, taking off without the men again. Once again I found myself wishing I had stayed with Eomer and his lot.

We rode for the rest of the day, and as the sun was falling beyond the horizon we found high ground within the plains, so we decided to stay there for the night. I found the least rocky part of the ground and rolled so I was facing away from the group. As they discussed the plans for tomorrow, we were going to reach Edoras mid-afternoon, I sipped quietly from my flask. As I heard them settle down for the night, I closed my eyes and pretended that I was already asleep, even though I wasn't tired at all. It was only as I listened to Aragorn go talk to Gandalf that I actually reacted. They stood together, and I heard Gandalf talk about blaming himself for the danger that Frodo was currently in. Aragorn comforted him with the knowledge that Sam had gone with him, a fact I had not actually known as well. Of course Sam would have gone with him; he was almost inseparable from Frodo. I had almost fallen asleep when they began to whisper the conversation I wished I was asleep for.

"Nalin is…different from my time as Gandalf the Grey." One eye of mine cracked open, and I would bet my hearing would rival Legolas's at this moment.

"We thought we had lost her from a time when Saruman's army attacked us. I did not want to despair but I was certain that she was to be killed."

"Fret not Aragorn, I would have assumed the same thing."

I could just imagine Aragorn and Gandalf sharing a similar smile, there was no doubt why they assumed I would have been killed.

"How has she been coping with Boromir's death?"

I froze, wishing I could turn my hearing off.

"I believe she is just trying to push it to the back of her mind. I don't believe she's coping with it in anyway."

"That will not end well if she continues down this path, she must face pain and loss just as the rest of us."

"I will keep an eye on her, as will Gimli, and especially Legolas. We are all aware that she is not handling this well. I do wish she would show us exactly what she is feeling, but if she did she wouldn't be Nalin now would she?"

Gandalf unleashed a deep chuckle. "No, I suppose she wouldn't. Of course while I was gone it has appeared to be that you have found another distraction for her when the time comes."

I adjusted myself so I wouldn't have to hear anymore, pressing down on my ears. I didn't need to hear anymore, I was fighting back the bile in the back of my throat. I didn't care if it wasn't healthy, I didn't want to deal with this tonight, not when apparently my life was all anyone could talk about. And not even the parts of myself I was proud of. Why couldn't they talk about my fighting skills, or my will to survive, or my stupid inappropriate comments? Anything besides my love life. I trailed off to sleep trying to avoid picturing the steward, or the elf, or any part of this journey where I wasn't killing something.

**xXx**

As we crested the hill the next day the sight of Edoras appeared. I had to say it was beautiful, surrounded by the mountains, the plain giving the people of the city views from every angle. I would have probably appreciated it more if I wasn't trying to avoid everyone in the group.

Gandalf luckily was holding everyone's attentions with his lesson of the area.

"Edoras and the Golden Hall of Meduseld. There dwells Théoden, King of Rohan, whose mind is overthrown. Saruman's hold over King Théoden is now very strong."

Lovely, and here I was hoping to avoid Saruman all together. Apparently that was not in the plan though if we were going to take back Edoras and in turn Rohan. I felt my fingers brush my sword, unsure of how we going to exactly free Théoden.

"Be careful what you say." There was no need for the look that Gandalf gave me, it was obvious it was meant for me. "Do not look for welcome here."

Of course not, why would we make anything simple?

We kicked our horses into a gallop towards the city and I let mine drop to the back of the pack. As we rode I took in my appearance for the first time, realizing that I was a disheveled mess about to save a city. My hair was all in knots down my back, having lost my ribbon to tie it back. My pants had holes in them and my shirt had a large tear along my ribs, courtesy of my captors. I looked like a deranged madwoman.

Hurrah Rohan, your hero has come.

As we entered the city a banner flew down and landed to our right. My horse balked a little at it but calmed itself and we entered through the gates. It was as if everyone was in a perpetual funeral type of mind. No one was smiling, children were placed directly beside their parents with no sign of the usual childhood joy glowing from their faces. The looks that the males of my group was one of suspicion and hostility, but I was special enough to receive looks of insanity. Gimli made some comment about cheer in a graveyard and I nodded, taking in what exactly Saruman's hold over the king had brought to this place.

It didn't get much better as we approached the royal hall, as we were greeted by about ten different men. Gandalf did not seem so surprised as we came face to face with them, his grey cloak billowing slightly around him. Come to think of it I had been meaning to ask the wizard why he was wearing the grey when he was now the white wizard. I'll put that on my to do list.

The lead guard spoke out to us. "I cannot allow you before Théoden king so armed, Gandalf Grayhame. By order of…Grima Wormtongue." I made a face at the name, not even needing to meet the man, clearly he was the part of the whole Saruman scheme. By the look on the guard's face he agreed with my early thoughts. We spent the next minute handing all of our weapons over to the guard, Legolas and Aragorn taking up the most time. When we were all finished the guard turned to Gandalf.

"You're staff." Ok this was not good, it was bad enough going into the hall filled with possible enemies with all of us weapon-less. But if we went in there and Gandalf did not have his staff then there was no way we could defeat Saruman and free Théoden.

Of course, Gandalf had it covered. "Eh? Oh you would not part an old man from his walking stick?" Score one for Gandalf, playing the feeble old man pity card. The guard gave him a look but let us pass, missing the wink that Gandalf shared with us. We entered the hall, dark and gloomy as it was, and my eyes landed on the saddest looking man I had ever seen sitting in the throne. Next to him was a man who looked like a classic story evil sidekick.

"Well, like this isn't obvious who the evil one is." I muttered and Aragorn squeezed my arm to be quiet. As Gandalf and King Théoden passed extremely awkward pleasantries I exchanged looks with Aragorn, begging him with my eyes just to let me kill the guy. Good Lord I wanted to kill someone.

Had I really just thought that? I was beginning to realize Gimli was rubbing off on me.

"Late is the hour in which this conjurer chooses to appear. Lathspell I name him. Ill news is in ill guest." Grima stopped before us and his eyes scanned our company, coming to rest on me in a way I really didn't want him to. Whatever my thoughts about him, this guy was dangerous, and I was in his sights.

"A female!" he moved over toward me slightly, and I felt Aragorn step in front of me as a shield. It didn't stop Grima from gazing at my attire. "A female who seems to have seen the worst of the world. Perhaps not all is ill." There was no way he was thinking about why I had holes in my outfit, he was just staring at my exposed skin.

"Be silent! Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth." Aw Gandalf you softie, stepping up to protect the female. "I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm!" Nice insult there old man. He raised his staff in Grima's face and that was enough to startle the witless worm.

"His staff! I told you to take the wizard's staff!" That was the cue for the fighting to begin, with most of our company taking off in different directions. I ran ahead of Gandalf, deciding to fight from there, elbowing men in the face, punching their skulls, anything and everything I could do to win these miniature battles. I shouted at Legolas when I saw a guard running up behind him and watched, mildly impressed, as he took him out without looking.

Who needed weapons? Our company was doing just fine on anger and frustration alone. Gimli had positioned himself over Grima and was threatening bodily harm to him. I wanted to hug that dwarf.

Gandalf had reached where I was standing, near the stairs to the throne. He had muttered something about releasing the king from the spell and raising his hand. In reaction, the King began to laugh, a creepy, half deceased sounding laugh.

"You have no power hear, Gandalf the Grey." The king kept laughing while I bit my lip, wanting to throw a sarcastic comment his way. I didn't have to wait long as Gandalf, always dramatic, dropped his grey cloak and revealed the new Gandalf. I had to admit I was still in awe, especially as his mere presence had thrown the king back.

Thus begun the battle of Gandalf versus Saruman for the King of Rohan's soul. Gandalf stated that he would draw him out as poison is and began using his staff. Théoden…..or Saruman, hard to tell, let out a gasp against the magic. I heard running behind me and turned to see a beautiful woman being pulled back by Aragorn.

"If I go, Théoden dies." I turned back to the scene before me. I had heard Saruman's voice this time, clear as day. Back went Théoden against his throne again.

"You did not kill me, you will not kill him!"

"Rohan is mine!" Théoden's eyes landed on me. "She is mine!" I felt all the eyes in the room fall on me briefly, but I held eyes with Théoden, knowing I could not back down. I was not afraid of Saruman, and now was the time to prove it.

"Be gone!" Gandalf was not distracted, and as my eye challenge angered Saruman to the point of lunging towards me, Gandalf sent Théoden flying back against his throne again. The King fell forward and the woman ran forward to catch him. I watched from the side as his face began to change, and we all watched the effects of Saruman disappear, and Théoden became the younger king again.

He and the woman exchanged words and I caught the name of Eowyn, so I assumed that was the woman's name. He turned to the crowd below him, noticing us for the first time.

"Gandalf?"

"Breathe the free air again my friend." I stepped back, falling back with Aragorn and Legolas. It was right then I realized that while I had tried to convince myself that I was not to fear Saruman, I was actually terrified. My knees buckled slightly and Legolas caught me, holding me against him. The bile I had been holding back since last night rose again, and I clenched my jaw and shut my eyes. I opened them again when I felt myself being dragged out of the hall, the King dragging Grima outside. I was unaware of what I had actually missed but was merely glad that I was gaining feeling in my feet again. I walked beside Legolas, and stood between him and Eowyn, who gave me a look but didn't say anything.

"Are you alright?" Legolas whispered as we stood by watching the scene of Théoden, Grima, and Aragorn unfold. I nodded, and watched as Aragorn stopped Théoden from killing Grima, instead letting the seedy looking man ride off into the plains.

"I have a feeling we are going to regret that." I whispered in Legolas's ear, and he nodded this time.

**xXx**

We were preparing for a funeral, Théoden's son having been slain in the last few days. I was currently sitting in the bedroom given to me, my hair dripping from my recent bath, and my funeral clothes laid out for me on my bed. I had to say the welcome to the royal hall was much better than I expected.

With a knock on my door I rose from my bed and opened it, watching as Aragorn strode in, clearly having bathed somewhat but still somehow looking dirty.

"The King has asked us to walk behind his son's body down to the crypt." He sat down on a chair while I took my place on the bed again.

"That's…..nice of him I guess. I'm actually not sure how to respond to that properly."

Aragorn shrugged and began smoking his pipe again. I ran my fingers through my wet hair, glad that it was currently know free. I wanted to ask him, but I was afraid what would happen if I brought it up. I wanted to prove though, that I was coping.

"What did you give him for a burial?"

"Who?"

"Him…." I met Aragorn's eyes. "Boromir…"

The King of Gondor was startled briefly, with the fact that I had brought up his name. "We gathered his weapon's and his shield and placed them on one of the Lothlorien boats, before we sent him with them over the waterfall." He rose his arms and showed braces that I realized had been Boromir's. "I kept these in honor of him, to remember the honor of promises I made him."

I wasn't sure what it was. It could have been the vision of Boromir's body going off to who knew where, it could have been the realization that I wouldn't ever see him again smile at me, or it could have been seeing Boromir's armor on Aragorn, and for one minute picturing them on the arms that I cared for so deeply.

Whatever it was, I found myself with my head over my chamber pot, the bile and vomit I had been holding back for the past few days flew out of me, leaving me a coughing pile, with Aragorn's hand gently resting on my back.

It was from that moment I truly began to cope.

**xXx**

** There ya go, newest chapter, and one of my longer ones. Hope you all enjoy, I have truly enjoyed the amount of feedback I have gotten for this story. Enjoy!**


	4. Chapter 4

I slid my fingers through my hair, pulling the front parts back and pinning it off my face with a couple metal pins that I had found. I stepped back and looked at my reflection in the mirror, satisfied that I looked nice without looking too put together. The dress I had been given was of course black, and clung to my ribs right above my waist.

"Not too shabby Nalin." I twirled, reveling in the fact that I was wearing a dress for the first time since Lothlorien. Though I did love wearing pants, there was something that boosted my confidence in wearing something feminine. I stopped twirling when I heard a knock at the door.

"Good afternoon gentlemen." I swung the door open as in walked Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. They were all still in there travelling clothes, but had cleaned themselves up a good bit. Aragorn sat on my bed while Legolas and Gimli stood next to the door.

"Are you about ready Nalin?" Aragorn looked over my outfit and nodded stiffly in approval. I would never understand the man's need to approve my clothing choices, but he had yet to steer me wrong. I still remembered him in Rivendell, telling me how to look and act in order to earn the right to survive.

"You look beautiful Nalin." Legolas looked me over as well, though I doubted for the same reasons. I swore I saw Gimli smirk and roll his eyes.

"Thank you Legolas, but I don't think my goal should be to look beautiful today." I flattened my skirt and pulled my sleeves down before putting my belt on and sliding a dagger on under it. When I noticed the looks I was getting I merely shrugged. "You can't be too careful, I'm just being prepared. What's the plan for the walking down behind Theodred?"

"It's just that, we are walking down with the body, behind Théoden. We'll walk to the crypt, there will be a service and then we will come back up." Aragorn was playing with the covers on my bed. "This is not going to be the most pleasant entrance to Rohan."

"We saved the king, we couldn't save everyone Aragorn." As I said it I forced myself to believe it. After all, Theodred had been mortally wounded even before I had been found. There was little we could blame ourselves for.

"She's right Aragorn, we can't blame ourselves for anything that was out of our control." Legolas was quiet, and stood rigid against the doorframe.

"Aye laddie."

Way to contribute Gimli.

A quiet knock came to the door again and Legolas opened it to reveal Gandalf standing there in all his white glory.

"It's time." We all stood as if he had commanded us and began to file out of the door. Gandalf caught my arm and wrapped his arm around mine, acting as if he needed me to lean on slightly.

"I thought you could walk with me Nalin." The wizard clearly had something in the works, but I was unsure on what it could possibly be. I hadn't been here more than a day, there was only so much trouble I could have gotten in that he would need to act as a barrier. We walked ahead of the other three, our footsteps echoing down the dark hall. When we entered the great hall , I saw King Théoden and his guards. The look that Théoden gave me clued me in that whatever Gandalf was secretly helping me with was because of the King.

I helped save his life, clearly I was a danger that needed to be watched.

"My Lord." I bowed my head slightly when we reached Théoden.

"I did not recognize you at first. Although you must forgive me, seeing a woman fighting as a man is unheard of in Rohan." Théoden bowed his head toward me the slightest. Well now the problem was evident, I had entered into the area where women were to be protected, not do the protecting.

"Théoden it is time to go." Gandalf looked solemn, but began to pull me towards the open doors, where I could see the body of Théoden's son being carried by four warriors. We began walking behind the body, Théoden was in front, followed by his guard, then Gandalf and myself, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. If it wasn't for the solemn occasion, I would have made a comment about how beautiful a day it was.

"I've insulted Théoden slightly haven't I?" The question was whispered so only Gandalf could hear, though it wouldn't surprise me if Aragorn and Legolas were picking it up as well.

"Not intentionally." Gandalf gave me a sad, small smile.

"But he takes offense to the fact that a woman helped save him against Saruman doesn't he?"

"Only a small amount, remember Nalin you are one of a kind, he will warm up to you eventually, as we all did."

"And until then I should what? Act as the powerless female who has never seen a battle?"

"Well…..it couldn't hurt to pretend." Gandalf gave me a wink as we exited the city walls. I smiled slightly as we kept walking but on the inside I wanted to scream. I was once again a prisoner it felt like, only this time my body was free, it was just my personality that seemed to be in chains.

**xXx**

The funeral had been nice. It seemed like the wrong term to use but as I unpinned my hair and laid down on my bed I could not think of a better word to describe it. The entirety of Edoras had joined the royalty of Rohan in saying their goodbyes. There had been singing and kind words, and the proper amount of tears while he was put into the crypt forever.

It had been as nice as a funeral could be.

The afternoon was growing late, and within a couple hours the sun would have set. My stomach growled as I planned out how to follow Gandalf's words of advice and would try to act as a female as much as I could. It would not be easy, I had been surrounded by only men for a long time.

Just when I was about to fall asleep a soft knocking once again hit my door. I sighed and turned away from it, not wanting to deal with the world's problems at the moment. The knocking started again.

"Aragorn go away. I don't need your kingly advice at the moment." I heard the door open and I was ready to kill the man, Gondor would just have to find a new King, I'm sure there was someone.

"I'm serious Aragorn, you have to stop popping into my room whenever you want!" I turned over and my eyes fell on Eowyn, who was standing in my doorway still in her funeral clothes as well.

"My Lady!" I stood so fast I lost my balance for a second which made my bow look even more awkward. "Forgive me, I did not know it was you."

"It is no bother." She smiled at me. "It was clearly a mistake." She stepped into the room and looked around at the slight mess I had created since arriving. "You have found everything comfortable then?"

"Yes my lady, your hospitality is extremely generous."

"Please call me Eowyn, you saved my uncle, you have no need to be so formal."

"Well Gandalf saved your uncle, I was merely part of the party." My protest fell upon her held up hand, and she shook her head.

"You fought against Saruman and Grima, and the guards who would have unintentionally stopped you. You helped save my uncle indeed."

I smiled at her generosity and nodded. "Very well, thank you for your kind words Eowyn."

"I was wondering if you would come and walk with me, I wish to clear my head of the tragedy that has occurred and make sense of what has happened. I also wish to have company, if it is alright with you."

The King's niece wants me to walk around with her. In my mind I could not figure out a downside to this idea, and it seemed that the tiredness I felt minutes earlier was gone.

"Of course Eowyn, I believe a walk will do me well too." I flattened my skirts and followed her out of my room. We walked in silence for awhile, as we passed the corridors and finally into the Great Hall, where my three men were sitting. The eyebrows rose as we walked past them, turning towards outside. I was unsure where Gandalf and Théoden were, but I believed they never came in from the funeral. Once we had crossed into sunlight, Eowyn began to ask me questions.

"Which one of the three sitting there was Aragorn?" She walked with her hands in front of her, I walked with my arms crossed, it was just too hard to give up everything for their more feminine counterpart.

"The dark one, who always looks like he is up to something." I smiled slightly, which I guess Eowyn caught.

"He comes to your room often?" I nodded. "Is he courting you?" I tripped slightly from her question but laughed before I responded.

"Oh no, Aragorn is certainly not. He is more like a very good friend or my older brother. He protects me and gives me advice, even when I do not ask for it."

"It certainly is odd company you keep Nalin, a man, an elf, and a dwarf. I am certain I could never be the lone female in such a group."

"I can honestly say that half the time I want to take my sword to them, but a girl could never ask for a better trio of companions." It was true, as much as they annoyed me I could not imagine my life now without them.

Of course I also couldn't imagine a normal, worry free day anymore, but I digress.

"The elf was very handsome as well." Oh girl talk, I forgot this is what it was about. We were down in the midst of the town now, and Eowyn stopped to hand a bucket of water to a child.

"Legolas is certainly very handsome….but very confusing as well." Eowyn's eyes met mine.

"Confusing?" I might as well open up to her, it would be good to have a woman's opinion on my life from time to time.

"Legolas cares for me deeply, I suspect he has longer than I've actually known. And he's made affections known to me, multiple times. He does not understand that I need time to think."

"What do you need to think about? Is he not a respectable elf?"

I had to smirk. "He's the royal prince of Mirkwood, respectable elves respect him." Eowyn smiled but I knew to still elaborate. "There was another man of our group, a Steward of Gondor, and he and I were courting, I guess you can say that. I'm still trying to move on from him."

"Did he return to Gondor?" Eowyn was an excellent person to open up to, and I could tell she actually did care. My liking for her as a person was growing.

"He died, trying to protect me as well as some other companions from Saruman's orcs. He took three arrows to the chest." The last image I had of him looking at me with his obvious wounds developed into my mind, but for the first time I didn't push it away. I couldn't disgrace his memory, his courage, by trying not to remember it.

"I'm sorry." And I knew she meant it. Right now she understood pain and loss as well as anyone. We kept walking until we reached the entrance to Edoras. It was so quiet, the eeriness of everything hadn't left us yet.

"I must convince now Nalin, I brought you out with a specific conversation in mind." Well this wasn't normal girl talk, this was secretive. I was intrigued.

"You fight, and fight well I might say." I smiled and nodded while avoiding eye contact. Time to look humble. "I saw you fight off men yesterday, without weapons you defeated them. I guess my question is how you came by fighting, how you managed to be a warrior even with the fact that you are a woman."

I paused, my mouth hanging open slightly, trying to figure out what exactly my answer was. I had never really thought about it, I mean, I knew I was unusual, a woman fighter. But I never knew or even thought about why the men in my company ever allowed me to fight.

"Well…I was sort of thrown in this company, The men weren't thrilled at first, but before I joined I had proven that I could fight in battle. I suppose it just never came up, at least at first."

"At first?"

"Well now, I was captured by Saruman's orcs. Obviously I was saved but my three males around me have now seemed to put me under lock and key for safety. It's rather annoying actually, but I know it's from the good of their hearts, that's why I try to pretend I don't notice."

"I can understand. My uncle, brother, everyone around me tells that I cannot fight, that it is not my place, it's as if they believe just because I won't fight means I can't be killed."

I smirked at Eowyn, I had to. "So you're the reason the Théoden seems annoyed with me. He thinks I am going to corrupt you." I made my best evil face, and Eowyn laughed at it. At least now it made sense on why I had annoyed the King so much so fast.

"Out of the way!" We both turned to the entrance to see Gandalf pushing men out of the way, leading a horse with Théoden behind him carrying a young boy.

"Uncle!" Eowyn ran forward to help Théoden while I ran forward and helped a small girl off the horse, opting instead to carry her. Gandalf nodded to me and had some men lead the horse away while I jogged to keep up with Théoden and Eowyn, the latter of who was asking what had happened.

"They just arrived, the boy fell off the horse." Théoden was extremely to the point, once again I could see why a man was King. The small girl whimpered in my arms, half unconscious herself. While we climbed the stairs to the top of Edoras, Théoden looked back at me, clearly knowing what Eowyn had been talking to me about.

I gave him a look and moved past him, not caring what he thought at the moment.

**xXx**

Throwing on the last of my gear I placed my funeral attire on my bed, having decided that I was no use in a dress, I had to be prepared for fighting at all moments. Especially with half dead children appearing with news of Saruman attacking villages throughout Rohan, killing all that the orcs could.

Instead of my typical braid I kept the hair pins idea and just pulled it off of my face. Hiking my boots up my calves I opened the door and walked out to the Great Hall once again. When I entered, the clear change in my attire once again caught everyone's attention, but they chose not to say anything at this moment.

"What did I miss?" I took a seat next to Aragorn, who looked to be deep in thought while smoking his pipe. Théoden was standing and giving Aragorn such a look I was surprised Aragorn wasn't shrinking back.

"Open war is coming to meet us, we don't have time to go meet the Rohan warriors led by Eomer for help. You are now caught up." Good ole Gimli, sometimes I did love that dwarf. I stole a piece of chicken off of his plate and began to chew quietly.

"When last I looked, Théoden, not Aragorn, was King of Rohan."

Well that explained the look, and why the air in the room was so uncomfortable. Gimli burped very loudly, and I giggled as quietly as I could. I wish I could see life through Gimli's eyes, he never seem to let anything bother him too much.

"Then what is the king's decision?" Gandalf was clearly anxious. Théoden paused before turning to me.

"You are the only one from our visitor's that has not spoken your thoughts. Pray tell, what do you believe that I should do?"

Really, you aren't thrilled with who I am yet you are throwing me into the middle of this? My fingers clenched over and over again under the table as I focused on them, choosing my words carefully.

"You have clearly been a great king aside from being under Saruman's influence. If it is true that we cannot reach your men with Eomer in time for the attack, than I see no way that you can properly defend your people here. I believe your choice will be the proper one to defend…" I rose my eyes to see Théoden looking smug, I guess he approved of my answer. Everyone else looked like I had lost my head, I guess they were not as thrilled.

**xXx**

I had gone to bed shortly after the conversation, no one had stopped me, and Théoden and Eowyn were the only ones who had said goodnight. My original companions clearly offended slightly that I had not automatically sided with them on facing Saruman.

So it came as a surprise when I woke up the next morning to all four of them in my room, dressed and ready for the day ahead.

"Are you sure Gandalf you can find Eomer in time?" Not exactly what I wanted, waking to the dwarf asking questions to the wizard, and if those two were in here there was no doubt in my mind that the man and elf were lurking somewhere as well.

"I am sure Gimli."

"Can someone explain to me…." I opened my eyes and sat up, making contact with my covered foot and Gimli's hip. Aragorn and Legolas emerged from the far side of my room.

Did I know my group or what.

"What do you need explained now Nalin?" Gandalf gave me a smile but I still wanted to throw something at him.

"Why is it always my sleeping areas that become our meeting areas? You do realize you have the Golden Hall out there to conspire and plan?"

"Yes but then we couldn't be here to wake you all the time." Aragorn had the nerve to look offended before he smiled, like it was my fault that they were always annoying me. Legolas smiled at his friends comment. Sometimes I couldn't stand their relationship.

"Well then," I threw my legs over the side of the bed and started to pull my boots on. "How silly of me to ask."

"You should have known better Nalin." Legolas smirked and I stared at him. The elf becoming the jokester was a little bit more to handle than I thought it would be, maybe because him having a sense of humor made him more endearing than before. I was going to have to be careful around him.

"So what is the plan for today?" I walked over and splashed water on my face.

"Théoden is issuing the order today, actually has probably already issued, that we are to pack and leave Edoras and travel to the strong hold of Helm's Deep. Everyone is evacuating and travelling there."

"Everyone except Gandalf who is playing out his own plan?" I turned to the surprised faces staring at me. "There's a slight obvious problem to having your secret meetings pretty much on my bed. So Gandalf is off to find Eomer then while we are to deal with the whole of Edoras." This was going to be a fun next couple days.

"That is indeed the plan Nalin, and you are to behave yourself while I am gone. I don't want to come back to learn that you have caused more problems than we already have."

"I make no promises, when are you planning to leave?"

"Within the hour."

"Well then," I slid my weapons onto my body, and checked my hair was still pinned back. "I guess I better get all of my trouble making out soon." And with that I walked out my door.

xXx

**Ok I'm sorry it's short but I didn't want to get into the journey to Helm's Deep in this chapter. Let me know what you think, I'm pretty sure I have my ideas lined up but not set in stone. Til then thank you for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5 (part 1)

**Not going to lie, we're just pretty much going to dive into some Legolas Nalin fluff because it's about darn time. I hope you all enjoy.**

**xXx**

I stood solemnly at the entrance to the town, looking behind her into the ghostly emptiness that now filled it. Everyone had filed out, men, women, and children and followed Théoden and his men out of their homes to make the journey to Helm's Deep, the Rohan fortress. Now, the streets that had been filled with people (albeit very solemn people) yesterday were now empty, the masters of the houses choosing their lives over their homes. I shook my head, and mounted Lembas before kicking him off and running past the townsfolk. It took longer than I expected to reach my friends, who had positioned themselves at the middle of the large group along with Théoden and Eowyn.

"Has everyone vacated?" Aragorn asked as I slowed to a walk next to him. I nodded, my eyes flashing across the people all around me, a burning in my throat growing.

"Did I do this Aragorn?" He looked at me with confusion. "When I sided with Théoden over you and Gandalf, what if I picked the wrong side to vouch for?"

Aragorn's eyes were grim as he looked back ahead, focusing on the mass in front of us. "What done is done, the choices have been made and we will deal with the consequences, whatever they may be." He must have seen the distraught in my face because he continued. "I do believe the King Théoden would have gone with his decision even if you had declared it the wrong one as well. He is doing what he believes is right for his people, and Helm's Deep has saved them in the past. Remember I told Gandalf the same thing as he left as well."

It was true, as we had seen Gandalf off in the early morning he had professed these same feelings. I wondered briefly where Gandalf was now, as well as wondering if he will be able to return to us with Eomer and his men in time. I smiled at the thought of seeing Eomer again, I had not known him long enough to really count him as a friend, but I felt that if given more time he and I would actually get along pretty well. Plus I wanted to thank him again for saving my life.

"There's the lass's smile." Gimli was on my right side suddenly, and I jumped at his sudden appearance as well as Legolas being right next to Aragorn.

"Weren't you two back there just a minute ago?" I asked the dwarf in a huff, my heart settling back down.

"Indeed but you ran by at such a pace and then seemed so deep in conversation that we needed to know what was being said, so we sped up." Gimli flashed a toothy grin at me and I giggled slightly.

"It was worth it the moment I saw Gimli almost topple off his horse because he couldn't slow it down. Although in all honesty I was more worried about the supplies rather than our master dwarf here." Legolas dryly spoke, and his delivery as well as the image of it caused my giggles to grow into full grown laughter. His smile grew at mine, and we just looked at each other for a second longer than was probably necessary. When we broke the connection I saw Aragorn and Gimli sharing that look again, and when they noticed me looking at them they just exaggerated the look. Legolas, who I wasn't sure if he was oblivious to the moment or just really good at hiding it, spoke something softly in elvish before running his horse up ahead, my guess was to scout ahead.

"Things seem to be progressing nicely between you two, it seems like just last week you two just bickered continuously." Aragorn smirked at me, and I merely rolled my eyes.

"Simple lover's quarrels it seems Aragorn." Gimli added and my rolling eyes twitched hard. How hilarious my life must seem to these two, the female warrior who had been torn between two men she cared about deeply, only to find out later that her other companions were rooting for her to end up with the prince in the end.

Somewhere there was a naïve young girl squealing at the possibility that this could happen. As for myself I merely cringed at the awkwardness surrounding me.

My eyes trailed out to the small form of Legolas, who was indeed scouting ahead like I had predicted. If I was honest with myself I couldn't deny the feelings that had been growing since, well I wasn't sure. I bit my lip as I remembered the kiss in Lothlorien, the feel of him so close to me, the hurt that I had seen flash across his face when I had called him a complication. My mind drifted to what would have happened had Boromir not been part of the fellowship, would I had seen Legolas kissing me as a complication to the quest, or would I have kissed him back, over and over again until neither of us could breathe anymore?

"Lost in thought lass?" Gimli's words shook me out of my daydream, and I glared at him, but he merely chuckled. I realized that my bottom lip was swollen, and I blushed at the question of how hard had I been biting it in the past few minutes crossed my mind.

"You two don't fight fair, you know that right?" They both laughed at my blush and I hid my face in my hands.

"Nalin, we wouldn't tease you so much if you didn't react so easily. Also, it is obvious what crosses your mind just by looking at your face." Smirked Aragorn. My mind flashed back to the last time that fact was pointed out to me, by Legolas himself. I remembered how close he got to me that day, just to annoy me I had thought, but had I been wrong? Had that been one of Legolas's first attempts to win my attentions?

"It's not fair…" I mumbled to myself, my words catching Aragorn's attention.

"What's not fair?" His eyes met mine and I gave him a smile.

"I'm such a mess Aragorn, I'm the complication." I briefly thought about how Legolas had referred to how he thought I thought of him when he was talking to Boromir. 'A confusing, forward, complication' had been his belief, one I had failed to actually correct. "I'm a complication that needs looked after."

"We are all messes Nalin." Gimli reached over and punched my arm gently. I laughed at his way of dealing with things.

"Gimli is right, look at our group. We have myself, the ranger from the north with a past he would rather not remember, an elf and a dwarf who are forming a closer friendship every day, a wizard who came back to life…"

"And a girl who was a forced onto this quest because she was not trusted by anyone at first, except for the man who was the first to fall to the Ring, what a ragtag bunch of heroes we are." I smirked at how we were chosen to be the ones to save Middle Earth. Maybe an army would have been a better idea.

"It will all work out in the end Nalin," Aragorn's smile grew. "But maybe the best first step is to figure out what you and Legolas are going to do." I resisted the eye roll again, always forgetting that Aragorn was secretly deep down a young girl. Still, he was possibly right.

"You might have a point." Glancing around I figured Legolas had gone over the ridge and was now out of line of sight. "Excuse me." I didn't have to see the two behind me to know they were sharing that look again. I nudged Lembas again and took off by the group. When I reached the top of the ridge I saw Legolas on the other side, perched on a rock, looking into the distance. I dismounted, Lembas whinnied but stood still. Watching my footing on the hill I jogged down until I was standing at the base of the rock he was perched on.

"Do you see anything?" He looked down at me, not a trace of surprise at my sudden appearance. My jog down here had been less than silent.

"All is clear right now, nothing but the normal wildlife." He jumped down next to me, the large drop nothing for his elven balance.

"It's sad, but with everything that has been going on I am surprised that this journey seems to be going with such an uneventful pace." Legolas's eyes met mine and we shared a smile. I took a breath, broke my gaze away, and boosted myself up for what I needed to say.

"Legolas," his brow furrowed, he had realized I wasn't here for small talk. "I needed to tell you something."

"Yes Nalin?"

"It's just…" I bit my lip, and winced, forgetting that it was still slightly swollen and sensitive. "I heard your conversation with Boromir, at least part of it, that night before he died, when you both came looking for me." Whatever he was expecting to hear this certainly wasn't it, and he opened his mouth to start defending his actions but I held my hand up to his face, silencing him.

"Legolas, I needed to know that you were wrong." He opened his mouth again, so I placed my hand on his face this time, my palm feeling him shut it again. "You are not a complication. You are sometimes forward, and most of the time confuse me enough to make me want to pull my hair out, but you are not a complication to me, and I am sorry I said that in Lothlorien." His eyes were trying to convey some response to me, and I knew that I would have to move my hand, but the feel of me touching his had sent a pleasant tingle through my arm and down my spine , and I found myself not wanting to stop the connection. I compromised, after the frustration growing in his eyes became evident, and moved my hand to his cheek. His eyes glanced down to where it rested but he didn't say anything.

"Nalin, you have nothing to apologize for, it was inappropriate for me to kiss you when I knew your heart had been captured by another." I briefly had a desire to tell him that my heart had not been completely captured, that it was evident by the fact I had begun to kiss him back. Deep down I felt that possibly I had always harbored some feeling for Legolas, that maybe Gimli was right. Maybe when we fought I secretly enjoyed it and wanted to do it more.

I wanted to tell him all this, but I stayed silent as his next words continued.

"I can promise you I will never cause you that much distress again, you do not need to worry about anymore actions with such forwardness."

"I don't want that Legolas!" I spoke quickly to him, the thought alone causing me to panic. I was just now coming to terms with possible feelings for the elf prince, I couldn't let him build a wall so suddenly, just because he felt guilty for a memory that I had stirred up. Couldn't he see everything that had passed between us wouldn't have happened had his feelings for me not been slightly reciprocated?

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him towards me, unable to think of anything else to do at this moment, my head resting on his shoulder. I felt the tenseness in his muscles, the surprise momentarily freezing him, but then I felt his arms wrap around me, his thumbs began rubbing little circles against my shoulder blades.

I don't know what possessed me to bring everything out in the open, but I was desperate to have him stay by me, to give me just a little more time to figure everything out. So I leaned my head up so my mouth was right next to his ear.

"I wanted to kiss you back Legolas," He stiffened again, but I wouldn't let him pull back, not this time. This time, I was going to keep the man near me, I was going to do this right. I buried my head in his neck, taking in the smell of him as I continued to mutter on. "You have some sort of effect on me, where I am torn between smacking you and kissing you every time you speak. I just need you to give me a little time, just a little more, to figure everything out. I promise I will let you know when I'm ready. Can you give me that-" I cut off, as my hand closest to his ear had begun rubbing the pointed top to it. I wasn't sure why I had done it, something to do with my subconscious and the fact that I had wanted to feel it for quite a while. What cut me off though was the reaction that I was getting from Legolas as I did it. The usually well composed prince had thrown his head back slightly, his eyes shut tightly, and his teeth gritted shut, most likely trying to stop a moan from escaping like the one I had just heard him unleash.

Legolas's hands gripped me hard and he and I walked back until my back was against the rock behind us. I felt his grip on my arms start to try and pull my arm away from his ear, but I wasn't going to let him, I was too fascinated by the way it was affecting him.

"Nalin…" the way my name was said did nothing to deter me from my current plans. In fact it just kicked in my devious side, and I wanted to see how far I could push him. I leaned back towards his other ear and gave the breathiest whisper I could.

"Yes Legolas, is something wrong?" I stood on my toes and with the slightest amount of pressure I bit his ear. That was apparently all it took, as down Legolas went, his grip pulling me with him. I had done the impossible, I had completely unraveled the elf prince. The information of the ears I was going to store and use at a later date. We rolled down the hill a little more before stopping at the base, somehow Legolas had been lucky enough to land on top, allowing him to limit my mobility and to save him from more of my touching.

With a smile playing at my lips, I looked up onto the face of the elf, trying to regain his composure. When he finally opened his eyes they were a mix of annoyance and lust looking back at me. My grin grew bigger.

"Nalin, you should not continue with actions when you cannot predict the outcome." It was an actual growl coming out as he spoke, he was barely hanging onto his control of himself I could tell.

"I'm not sure Legolas, I think a little bit more and I could have actually heard you beg." I teased as his stare intensified on me, causing my breath to catch in my throat. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than for him to lean down and kiss me. Curse Aragorn, he probably could sense this happening right now and was probably laughing hysterically about the fact that his evil plan was working. The complicated girl wanted desperately for the complicated elf prince to kiss her, to moan her name again.

Legolas was still looking at her, though there was no doubt in her mind he knew what she wanted and he wanted it as well, he was just being stubborn.

"Are you really going to disappoint Aragorn?" His look changed to one of slight confusion. "If you do not kiss me right now, he is going to feel that all his work was for nothing, it could be enough to drive the poor king mad." A smirk crossed Legolas's features.

"I don't think you deserve it, for what you just put me through." I glared at him, the feeling inside of me not satisfied with his answer.

"After putting up with you this entire quest I think I deserve it."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really."

"Well then, I suppose I can oblige, but you will have to do something for me first." The smirk grew.

"What would that be?"

"You have to ask for it. Ask me for what you want." I looked at him like he must be joking. Girls do not ask to be kissed, they are swept off their feet or completely surprised when the prince kisses them. Had Legolas never even looked at one of the stories from childhood, or were they left strictly to the race of men?

"I didn't ask for it before, in Lothlorien. What makes this different?" In Lothlorien he had done the whole surprise thing, it had been just really awkward timing.

"Because now you want it, I can see it in your whole face. Remember how I said I so enjoyed reading and watching your emotions before?"

"You're just trying to get me back because of the whole ear discovery, because I made you literally weak at the knees Captain Composure." My sassiness was coming out, but the feeling inside of me was growing restless, it desperately wanted to feel his mouth against mine.

"Perhaps that as well, but I promise you I will not kiss you until you ask for it." I gasped as I felt his hands rest of my bare stomach, I had been unaware that my tunic had been pushed up slightly in our topple down the hill. I started to squirm a little as he ran his palms and fingers up and down the small area of bare skin, sending a small tickling feeling through my body. He paused and watched my reaction.

"Interesting…" he muttered. "Now go ahead and ask me."

"I will not. A lady does not ask to be kissed." I stared at him defiantly.

"A lady also does not behead orcs and goblins for a hobby, so you may be stretching the truth trying to label yourself something as simple as a lady."

Well darn, he had me there.

"If you do not kiss me soon then the whole of Rohan will be upon us and your opportunity would have been missed."

"Let them pass and marvel at the stubbornness of a proud woman then, I care not."

"Well then maybe I shall simply wait for a real man to kiss me the proper way. I'm sure I can wait five days for Eomer to come back, and I could do a lot worse than the next King of Rohan." Jealousy briefly flashed over Legolas's eyes.

"Well maybe then I will turn my attention's to Lady Eowyn, a proper lady of a royal family."

Again with the eye roll for me. "Oh she only has eyes for Aragorn, you won't stand a chance against him."

"I'm sure she could be persuaded, one way or another." The way he said that made my insides melt, and I drifted back into a daydream, picturing what 'or another' could be. When I snapped back to my current predicament I noticed his smirk was back.

"I didn't interrupt something now did I?" Stupid cocky elf, he knew exactly what his words had done to me. My breath had quickened again and I knew my face was flushed.

"Are you scared to ask for what you want?" He had leaned closer, why had he leaned closer? It made it so much harder to focus.

"I'm not scared." I was scared that if he didn't kiss me within the next minute I was going to do it myself, and also possibly rip his tunic off.

"Then ask." The growl had turned into a purr, my insides had turned to butter, and my whole perception of the world had been turned around in the past few minutes because Aragorn decided that I should tell Legolas how I felt. So all in all this was his fault.

"I-I…" I'm a stuttering fool. Wonderful.

"Just ask Nalin," the smirk was there, the close proximity had shattered my defenses, the wants and desires I had felt for this amazing, annoying, cocky, honorable, wonderful, stupid elf came boiling up through me, and I was powerless to stop them this time.

"Will you kiss me, you horrible elf." His smirk grew into a smile at his victory before his mouth crashed down on mine with such force that I barely had enough time to take a breath. I was unsure how long he had wanted to do kiss me, but the power and passion that travelled from him to me gave me a hint that he had been holding more back than even I had realized.

"Damn you." I cursed him briefly as he pulled me up and lifted me into the air, his arms holding my legs off the ground while my hands tangled into his hair, the smallest part of me wanting to mess something up about him since he had made me ask for this. The physical side of this was intoxicating, I could live with it for awhile while I figured out the emotional side to him and me. Until then I was fine just kissing him from dusk until dawn.

"My Nalin." His growl was back. Whether it was the way he said my name or the possessive use of it, but one of the two made me lose myself completely to him, to the way he felt, the way he smelled, the way he sounded.

"Legolas," his name escaped my lips, and he growled in approval, beginning to kiss down my neck, his long fingers brushing back any hair that was in his way. When he hit a sensitive spot on my collarbone I gasped in surprise, then grabbed his hair harder as he gently nipped at it.

When I couldn't take any more without beginning to remove articles of clothing I pushed myself back, a hard task since we were pretty much pressed upon the boulder's side already.

"We should be getting back, they are going to be wondering where we have gone." Legolas took a calming breath before nodding and taking a step back. We smiled at each other before he readjusted himself and began to climb the ridge once again, to the oncoming sounds of Rohan's people who seemed to be almost to the top from the other side. As I watched him go I couldn't help feel like a pressure had been removed from me, and I realized I had been wanting to do that much longer than I cared to admit to Legolas, the beautiful prince of Mirkwood.

My annoying elf…

**xXx**

**Alright I am going to have to split this chapter into two parts or else it is going to be super long. I hope you enjoyed the fluff, I actually had a lot of fun writing them challenging each other. The next part should be up soon I promise. Until then! **


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